Enter the world of the epistolary novel. The use of real-world documents, such as letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings, can make the narrative more believable and engaging. This genre of writing allows the author to provide a sense of immediacy and intimacy, and for the reader to be privy to the characters’ private thoughts and feelings.
September 15: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
It’s the end of World War II, and a British writer begins a correspondence with a man living on the Island of Guernsey. He is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—created as an alibi for its members who defied the Germans occupying their island.
October 6: Dear Committee Members, by Julie Schumacher
Puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary." A beleaguered professor of creative writing at a small college in the Midwest, his once-promising writing career in the doldrums, tells his tale through a series of passive-aggressive letters of recommendation.
October 27: Meet Me at the Museum, by Anne Youngson
The curator of a Danish museum responds to a query from a British farm wife about the Tollund Man (who died in the 4th century BC and was discovered in the bogs of Denmark). They continue a correspondence of joy, anguish, and discovery.